Be optimistic, but Cowboys are beset with concerns

Not sure what was thicker at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: the smog in the air or the denial from the Dallas Cowboys.

“We can’t control what the NFL does and it’s not my place to comment [on the suspension of running back Ezekiel Elliott],” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said after his team’s 13-10 loss to the Rams on Saturday night.

Every year in the NFL there are a handful of worst-to-first and first-to-worst teams. The Cowboys were a worst-to-first team in 2016, and the way things have evolved in 2017 we should all have a supply of empty air-bags ready to go beginning in Week 1.

The Cowboys finished 13-3 last season thanks to wonderful play and one of the league’s easiest schedules. Now they will have one of the toughest and the reality that this franchise has not posted consecutive 10-win seasons since 1995 and ‘96. The team has not made the playoffs in consecutive years since ‘06 and ‘07.

It’s nearly a rite of passage for our ’Boys. These things are a distraction, not to mention a major loss for a team that needs him.

“We have really good depth at the running back position and we have all the confidence in the world these guys are going to step up and just go from there,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said Saturday night.

Let’s see, Darren McFadden is 29 and entering his 10th year in the NFL. Alfred Morris is 28 and entering his sixth year in the NFL.

“I’m ready for whatever the coaches throw at me,” McFadden said after the game.

That’s the can-do spirit. Any chance you could please lead the NFL in rushing? That would be great.

No spin could convince even McFadden or Morris that these competent pros can adequately replace Elliott, which is their task at hand.

The hope/plan is that an 87-year-old man could run behind this offensive line and pose as a competent threat.

This assumes this line, which lost guard Ronald Leary and right tackle Doug Free in the off-season, will be as good as it was last season when it was the best in the NFL. This assumes that La’el Collins will be Free’s equal at right tackle.

Collins could be Free’s equal, or superior. But remember a lot of Cowboys people thought the line was better with Leary in at guard after Collins suffered a season-ending injury early last season.

Free had his flaws, but he had battled back from a demotion, an embarrassing pay cut, and became a quality player and a highly-respected veteran in the locker room. The team tried to persuade him not to retire in the off-season.

Every roster has turnover, and every club has issues. Most teams are just a bad break or two from .500, or 6-10.

The Cowboys had a lot, and that was before the Zeke suspension. There is not an agreement on how this is going to play out, but there are major concerns for Hall of Famer Jerry Jones’ team.